Stay Safe From The H1N1 Mexican Swine Flu: What Can The Government Do?

Updated on April 29, 2009

You would figure that the government should just step in and save us from this potentially coming plague. Although I'm not going to insinuate that any national government in the world is sitting idly by, there really isn't much in the conventional processes of government emergency planning that is going to do anything at all to even slow down a global H1N1 pandemic.

One of the most dramatic statistics about the current H1N1 epidemic is the death rate: So far 7% of all the people infected have died. When you consider that in a typical flu season hundreds of millions of people are infected with the far less serious viral strains of other types of influenza, you can see that the possibility for massive deaths and global disruption is overwhelming.

So what can be done? Vaccine? No way. It would take a minimum of two to three years to develop, manufacture, and distribute an effective vaccine against this particular and worryingly virulent strain of H1N1. Antivirals? None of them are truly effective against H1N1, and the ones that slow it down even by a bit can't be produced in the doses required to help all of the 6.8 billion people on Earth.

There are ten things that can be done by governments to truly help stem the spread of the H1N1 pandemic, but some of them might surprise you.

Engage in an immediate, comprehensive and wide-ranging educational and media blitz demonstrating that the pandemic is real and can strike you at any time.

Set up a homeland pandemic version of the U. S. Peace Corps, to teach the common-sense techniques of avoiding infection.

Issue N95 respirators along with massive amounts of alcohol hand sanitisers everywhere in the country from the national pandemic fund.

Prepare the economy for a long term slowdown that might even become a shutdown. Arrest profiteers and hold them without trial for the duration. Apply 50% of all personal income and corporate taxes to be held in order to assist families and businesses to rebuild their activities after the pandemic is over.

Redirect all funds from infrastructure projects, road tax and other levies to creating a nine-month national fuel stockpile.

Restrict entrance to the nation only to citizens who are returning from abroad for the duration of the pandemic. Test every single person entering the country for H1N1, quarantine and treat any passenger who tests positive.

Set up a single, easily sealed-off temperate area such as Hawaii to serve as a flu-free refugee centre. Use the expertise learned in foreign countries to create vast tent and portable building cities with as comfortable accommodation as possible. Restrict access to the area only to persons who test H1N1 free at the border and who sign a declaration that they will not leave until the pandemic has abated.

Provide all food, water, shelter, energy, medical aid and assistance free of charge for the duration, again from the national pandemic fund.

Create a government of national unity representing all parties until the pandemic has passed. For the period of the national emergency, move the seat of government to the sealed flu-free region.

Equip the military with biosuits.

Is any of this actually going to happen? Not likely. The world governments will proceed with the pandemic planning that they have on their books right now, and it will amount to absolutely nothing at all. It won't even begin to slow the advance of a potential global H1N1 pandemic.

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Comments 20 comments

G'Day Hal, You are the master! I am very inpressed not only with the data, but with you and your inner self! This is a generous and complete guide for your fellow humans in a time when we need education and a full understanding of this dangerous H1N1.

I earnestly hope this hub gets millions of hits!

You are a big man!

Hal Licino 7 years ago from Toronto Author

Thanks earnestshub! And also thanks to HubPages' incredible Google connectivity, these Hubs are #1 on Google results on all sorts of different keywords such as swine flu safety, h1n1 homeopathic, etc. The readership that is bringing in is off the scale. I've never had a set of Hubs that drew this much this fast. I appreciate the kudos my friend! Stay safe! :)

earnestshub 7 years ago from Melbourne Australia

You stay safe too hal, and congratulations, number one on Google is one hell of a good place to be!

Hal Licino 7 years ago from Toronto Author

It does seem to open up the floodgates of massive traffic. It's a lot of fun! :)

Eaglekiwi, Mexican and southern USA pork products are exported to virtually every country in the world. However, keep in mind that if prepared properly and cooked through all pork is perfectly safe to eat.

Kambakkht Isq, thanks! I appreciate it. This series of Hubs has been getting extremely high readership.

Lady Guinevere, PUH-LEEZ. Mercola is a very well known evangelist of "health" snake oil. You might as well go get your medical information from your local drug pusher. And the links to sources that "prove" that 100 million people died of strep throat in 1918 have been discredited for decades. Mercola needs to be run off the internet on a rail as the sad error-mongering marketing site it has always been... No hard feelings, though, Lady, ok? :)

gpetrou85, thanks!

Kathryn Schutz, how long does it last in what conditions? On a conventional surface it stays active for a couple of hours, but in some cases such as moist areas it can stay active much longer. Or did you mean the H1N1 infection in humans?

Lady Guinevere 7 years ago from West Virginia

You don't think that this is all hype about this Swine Flu? You need to open your eyes and no hard feelings right! LOL Albeit that you think that aobut Mercola did you go read the article there --all the way to the bottom--just do it in jest if you have too.

How many peoiple are in the world versus how many people that have the Flu? Just what are they showing you in the background in the news that they are saying about the flu--Tamiflu.

Hal Licino 7 years ago from Toronto Author

Again with no hard feelings, if anything I believe that the WHO is underplaying the threat to keep populations from panicking. I see absolutely no reason why the US Mexico border should still be open, other than political largesse. In any epidemic situation there is a chance that it will peter out to nothing or that it goes hypercritical. No one can know until such time as it actually occurs. Given the spread of H1N1 in the last four weeks, I believe that a WHO level 5 is fully justified at this time. The last article on Mercola seems to be a link to an exercise text. Is that the one? Although the current official count of 260 and the unofficial count of 3,500 is infinitesimal in comparison to the world population of 6.8 billion, the bottom line is that human to human transmission works exponentially and could easily spread to 50 million people from Mexico and the southern USA outwards within two weeks. Again, no one can possibly know which direction H1N1 will take. Also, please notice that I have not dealt with Tamiflu or Relenza specifically as all the hard clinical evidence to date against H1s, H3s, H5s, H7s, etc. shows that they have such a minute actual antiviral efficacy that you might as well take a placebo.

Mighty Mom 7 years ago from Where Left is Right, CA

Good for you, Hal, for jumping in on this topic, digging in and doing your research, and writing a straightforward, no-nonsense series of hubs. I tend not to be a gloom and doom kind of person. But I do want to know what I personally can do to minimize my own and my family's risk of infection.

Thank you again for the hub. MM

Hal Licino 7 years ago from Toronto Author

Mighty Mom, it's parents like you that these Hubs are written for. We can never take any chances with our children's health, so thank you and stay safe! :)

Eaglekiwi 7 years ago from -Oceania

Ok so leeme see we've had the bird flu , mad cow and something to do with horses and now.........swine flu

no doubt we will experience many more 'new strains' if history is anything to go by.

It is real and the drug companies exploit it to the hilt !

I mentioned the pork because I know if the bacteria had been found then trade would have been banned ( as its been done numerous times with import/exports but I guess its only people and thats not so important.

humans ,strange lot are we not?

Hal Licino 7 years ago from Toronto Author

Hard to believe but the current "swine flu" is actually 50% swine, 25% human, and 25% bird influenza, so it came close to being the bird flu. Of course the merciless pharmaceutical manufacturers are taking this to the bank, but that still leaves the unfortunate reality that this epidemic is very real and can turn into a pandemic anytime now. The Philippines have already banned pork imports from the USA and I'm sure more countries will soon follow suit.

Debby Bruck 7 years ago

It is abundantly clear that the government promotes only vaccinations and drug companies. Although they advise washing hands and staying home if you are sick, they do not actively promote boosting the immune system and preventative measures such as homeopathic care. I believe this is the perfect opportunity for governments to put into place a massive experiment utilizing the expertise of trained professional homeopaths to oversee the use of these gentle, rapid acting treatments to prove through timely observation the healing effects of these energetic remedies.

You can read about the on-going immediate effects visting homeopathyworldcommunity.com where homeopaths are posting their cases and the remedies that are most effective for the 2009 influenza pandemic. Many are using Ferrum-phos for fever, gelsemium for anxiety, antimonium-tart for rattling cough, Ipecac for nausea, Eupatorium-perf for bone pains, Baptisia for sepsis, and oscillo/influenzinum for chills with flu. Please visit my hubs for further information. Thank you to Hal for this excellent Hub. We need to disseminate information giving free choice in health care to all.

in health, joy & light, Debby

Hal Licino 7 years ago from Toronto Author

Debby Bruck, thank you for your very kind and encouraging words. I can certainly understand your viewpoint, however I would like to note:

1) There has never been a clinical study which has ever found any element that boosts the immune system, no matter what the purveyors of conventional or alternative medicines state. The only way to boost your immune system is to stay generally healthy. Therefore, according to medical peer reviewed journals, nothing else does much of anything at all.

2) I am not a subscriber to homeopathy. I have included it in my Hub series only due to the number of people who have been asking me about homeopathic flu remedies, and then only with a disclaimer in the first paragraph.

However, anything at all that can help in any way to hold down the potential damage that this pandemic-to-be can cause is most certainly worthy of further research and implementation.

Marisa Wright 7 years ago from Sydney

Hal, I think your percentage figure is off. We're right in the middle of winter here in Australia so it's flu season. The authorities say that right now, in Sydney, if you have flu symptoms you have swine flu - it's simply swept the other flu strains off the board. In the vast majority of people, it's an unusually mild flu.

That means it's almost impossible to calculate what percentage of sufferers has died, because large numbers of sufferers won't have gone near a doctor.

We have had some deaths and we have some very, very sick people in intensive care, so that is scary. But they all had pre-existing illness of some kind, and it's a much smaller percentage than reported here.

Hal Licino 7 years ago from Toronto Author

Since this series of Hubs was written, the mortality rate has dropped considerably. It is currently estimated at 0.4%. Watch for that to increase this northern autumn with the next wave.